Overall, I am very pleased with how the raps are "building" as they say.
They have accumulated a fair amount of talent on the roster, good young players, sprinkled with a few vets, but the defensive culture has changed very quickly. They are playing hard, and people know that they won't get away with things with Casey as the coach. If one looks at the 15 man roster, they are in pretty decent shape. Despite the fast start, I would say there are really only a handful of teams, nets, washionton, Charlotte, maybe sac who will finish with a worse record. At worst we may get the 10th pick, at best, maybe top 3. It's a deep draft, so I am sure they can nab another player of equal ability to a derozen in the draft. With Val coming in and another very good player in the draft, the future is looking pretty bright.

In my opinion, this is what I would have as a depth chart once Kleiza gets back healthy and when Val gets here next year.

It's the best set of bigs we've had, probably ever, with excellent versatility.
The hard choice will be whether to trade one of davis or amir away or do you keep them both. If you play four posts and playing bargs 36 minutes, that leaves 20 each for amir, val and Davis. Probably not enough for any of them, but maybe enough to see who emerges and who doesn't between amir and davis. Amir is clearly the better athlete, and Davis has a better skillset and bball IQ.

What to do with Barbosa? Personally, I'd resign him for 3 years, I think he's earned it, great team guy, perfect skill set for the second unit, and a nice back-up to Derozen.

Calderon and Bayless, I think Calderon will probably get a fair amount of trade interest based on his performance this year and his professionalism and ability to be a floor general. I would keep him for next year and see how he does with the young guys for at least next year. Bayless? Not sure, he is hard to read, not a point guard, too small for the 2. Could he do Barbosa's job as a vinnie Johnson type scorer off the bench, maybe. I'm fine with them giving him a good look this year.

The 3 spot is a logjam. Kleiza is the best all-around guy there when healthy, and has a long term contract difficult to move, James Johnson is the perfect 7th/8th man on a buiding team. My guess is Butler will probably go from starter to DNP guy by the 30 game mark, and at some point they should see what Forbes can do in a game.

Magloire, gray, Butler and Carter are perfect filler guys, good attitudes that will help the coach instill his culture. Magloire has been very respected for what he provides the team, as has butler and carter. WE'll have to see about gray. he may well be traded for a team in need of a big.

The draft pick- My guess is it will be the best 3 man available or wing player. It could be a point guard if they feel like Calderon or Bayless are not the answers. Not to mention, the raps will have a fair amount of Cap space next summer.

Overall, I am very pleased with how the raps are "building" as they say.
They have accumulated a fair amount of talent on the roster, good young players, sprinkled with a few vets, but the defensive culture has changed very quickly. They are playing hard, and people know that they won't get away with things with Casey as the coach. If one looks at the 15 man roster, they are in pretty decent shape. Despite the fast start, I would say there are really only a handful of teams, nets, washionton, Charlotte, maybe sac who will finish with a worse record. At worst we may get the 10th pick, at best, maybe top 3. It's a deep draft, so I am sure they can nab another player of equal ability to a derozen in the draft. With Val coming in and another very good player in the draft, the future is looking pretty bright.

In my opinion, this is what I would have as a depth chart once Kleiza gets back healthy and when Val gets here next year.

It's the best set of bigs we've had, probably ever, with excellent versatility.
The hard choice will be whether to trade one of davis or amir away or do you keep them both. If you play four posts and playing bargs 36 minutes, that leaves 20 each for amir, val and Davis. Probably not enough for any of them, but maybe enough to see who emerges and who doesn't between amir and davis. Amir is clearly the better athlete, and Davis has a better skillset and bball IQ.

What to do with Barbosa? Personally, I'd resign him for 3 years, I think he's earned it, great team guy, perfect skill set for the second unit, and a nice back-up to Derozen.

Calderon and Bayless, I think Calderon will probably get a fair amount of trade interest based on his performance this year and his professionalism and ability to be a floor general. I would keep him for next year and see how he does with the young guys for at least next year. Bayless? Not sure, he is hard to read, not a point guard, too small for the 2. Could he do Barbosa's job as a vinnie Johnson type scorer off the bench, maybe. I'm fine with them giving him a good look this year.

The 3 spot is a logjam. Kleiza is the best all-around guy there when healthy, and has a long term contract difficult to move, James Johnson is the perfect 7th/8th man on a buiding team. My guess is Butler will probably go from starter to DNP guy by the 30 game mark, and at some point they should see what Forbes can do in a game.

Magloire, gray, Butler and Carter are perfect filler guys, good attitudes that will help the coach instill his culture. Magloire has been very respected for what he provides the team, as has butler and carter. WE'll have to see about gray. he may well be traded for a team in need of a big.

The draft pick- My guess is it will be the best 3 man available or wing player. It could be a point guard if they feel like Calderon or Bayless are not the answers. Not to mention, the raps will have a fair amount of Cap space next summer.

After 3 or 4 years of colangelo trying to go for the home run, he has finally realized that hitting singles is OK, developing players and building a culture are the key, as well as doing well in the draft. Small market teams have to do everything well, and get a little luck to be contenders. They are doing things right, now lets hope for a little luck in the draft and maybe we can lure the right fit free-agent. I'm thinking a free-agent point guard 2 years from now to replace calderon, or move Jose to the bench with a more reasonable contract. I would love nothing more than to see Jose be apart of a turnaround. 4 or 5 years down the road he could retire a raptor when they are playing winning basketball and hosting playoff games. I'm allowed to dream big aren't I?

I can't deny that Bargnani has looked very good. He is finally doing what he was always capable of, which is being an offensive monster. Too bad it took him so long to start giving a ****. I have to give some credit to Casey at this point for that, he seems to have motivated the big dope somehow. I think I actually saw Bargnani actually try to get a rebound the other day. We'll see if it lasts, and I still think he's too limited of a player to be a winner in this league, no matter how much he scores. But at the very least, I appreciate his efforts to raise his value to this team, whether it be on the court or on the trade market.

Calderon still looks to me like he would be best as a 6th man on a good team than languishing with us. And like Bargnani, deep down he's too much of a soft European on the defensive end to really lead us anywhere. Don't get me wrong, he's a leader, and a very good offensive player when he's healthy and not worn down with too many minutes. I like him. But he's not a PG we can build with.

Derozan and Ed are the real foundation here. I wish someone would tell Colangelo firmly "You only get to keep one Euro, which is it gonna be?" One of them needs to be packaged with Barbosa's expirer for something decent, and quickly.

Beyond that, don't let the fact that we've beaten ****ing Cleveland, and the inexplicable trainwreck that is the D'Antoni Knicks, fool you into thinking that this team is anywhere near ready for prime time. It is still loaded with scrubs and backwash. We will struggle against any team worth its salt this season, and we won't need to tank to get a top 10 pick, believe me.

I do like Dwane Casey as a coach for now, I like that Bargnani and Calderon are making themselves tradeable, I like the upside of Derozan and Davis. But we will be bad bad bad this year. Even given how weak the East is, we will not be able to hold onto a playoff spot. I'll enjoy seeing the Raptors try I suppose, and I'll enjoy the wins they do get.